Downtown Crossing

Downtown Crossing is a shopping district in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located to the east of Boston Common. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Summer Street was an upscale neighborhood, but much of the neighborhood was destroyed in a great fire in 1872. Between 1895 and 1917, Downtown Crossing became the hub of department store shopping in the city. In 1979, Boston decided to redevelop the area into a pedestrian-only mall, and the area became a popular tourist attraction.